Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4Department of Biology and Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3B 2E9

ABSTRACT

In severe hypoxia, most vertebrates increase anaerobic energy production, which results in the development of a metabolic acidosis and an O2 debt that must be repaid during reoxygenation. Naked mole rats (NMRs) are among the most hypoxia-tolerant mammals, capable of drastically reducing their metabolic rate in acute hypoxia while staying active and alert. We hypothesized that a key component of remaining active is an increased reliance on anaerobic metabolism during severe hypoxia. To test this hypothesis, we exposed NMRs to progressive reductions in inspired O2 (9–3% O2) followed by reoxygenation (21% O2) and measured breathing frequency, heart rate, behavioural activity, body temperature, metabolic rate, and also metabolic substrates and pH in blood and tissues. We found that NMRs exhibit robust metabolic rate depression in acute hypoxia, accompanied by declines in all physiological and behavioural variables examined. However, blood and tissue pH were unchanged, and tissue concentrations of ATP and phosphocreatine were maintained. NMRs increased their reliance on carbohydrates in hypoxia, and glucose was mobilized from the liver to the blood. Upon reoxygenation, NMRs entered into a coma-like state for ∼15–20 min, during which metabolic rate was negligible and body temperature remained suppressed. However, an imbalance in the time taken for the rates of O2 uptake (V̇O2) and CO2 production (V̇CO2) to return to normoxic levels during reoxygenation hint at the possibility that NMRs do utilize anaerobic metabolism during hypoxia but have a tissue and/or blood buffering capacity that masks typical markers of metabolic acidosis, and that the synthesis of glucose from lactate, rather than lactate oxidation, is prioritized during recovery.

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